This article was written in May 2020 and is now out of date. If you have landed here, (via a cached or bookmarked page), please follow the link to our latest article that explains the extended CJRS furlough scheme from 1st November 2020, containing information on how to apply for the scheme and a template furlough agreement letter to send to employees to gain their agreement prior to being put on the scheme.
This HMRC step by step guide, outlines the specifics of what you need to do to claim for the grant.
HMRC has produced updated guidance for employers on how to calculate your claim, it explains different pay and grant reclaim scenarios.
So far HMRC has been processing claims and making the grant payment to employers within 6 working days.
On 20th March the Government introduced The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) where an employer designates a worker as being on leave from the business (furlough leave). Under the scheme, all UK employers, regardless of size or sector, can claim a grant from HMRC to cover 80% of the wages costs of employees who are not working but are kept on the payroll (‘furloughed’), of up to £2,500 a calendar month for each employee. Employers can choose to top up the remaining 20% if they wish, but do not have to do this.
There is also a recorded webinars explaining the CJRS on HMRC’s youtube channel.
The Q&A below explains the scheme, what you need to do in order to furlough workers and how to apply for the CJRS grant.
We are advising employers to communicate with staff first, and seek their agreement to be designated as furloughed workers, before sending a second letter formalising the decision.
We have put together this template of a second letter that, following initial discussions with employees, employers should customise and send to employees, seeking their agreement, showing the exact changes to their salary and other benefits and confirming that they have been furloughed and keep a record of this communication. Download the template letter.
This letter is a template only, and will need customisation. There may be well be questions from your employees and almost certainly variations required, so please do get in touch if you have queries, if you need a word copy of the letter, or to discuss your particular situation and what you need.
The only way for Employers to make a claim is online. Employers will be able to claim for:
– Wage costs, plus
– the employer’s NI contributions, plus
– the minimum automatic enrolment employer pension contributions on that wage.
How do I make a claim for furloughed staff under CJRS?
Employers should discuss with their staff and make any changes to the employment contract by agreement. Employers may need to seek legal advice on the process. If sufficient numbers of staff are involved, for example, 20 or more, it may be necessary to start a collective consultation to gain agreement to the changes to staff terms of employment.
Information you need before making a claim
You will need to have the following:
a Government Gateway (GG) ID and password. If you don’t already have a GG account, you will need one and you can apply for one here. (Please note, this process is taking at least 10 days or so, and the letter (!) HMRC sends confirming your Gateway ID and password will be send to your business address, so make sure you have a way of getting your hands on it!
Be enrolled for PAYE online. If you aren’t registered yet, you can do so now, or by going to GOV.UK and searching for ‘PAYE Online for employers’.
Information you will need to make a claim
You will need to provide the following information to make a claim:
The bank account number and sort code you want HMRC to use when it pays the claim.
The name and phone number of the person in your business that HMRC should contact with any queries.
Your employer Self-Assessment UTR (Unique Tax Reference), Company UTR or CRN (Company Registration Number).
The name, employee number and National Insurance number for each furloughed employee.
Your employer PAYE reference number.
The number of employees being furloughed
Payroll/employee number for the furloughed employees (optional)
The claim period (start and end date)
Amount claimed (per the minimum length of furloughing of 3 consecutive weeks).
You will need to calculate the amount you are claiming. HMRC will retain the right to retrospectively audit all aspects of your claim.
Employers with less than 100 furloughed staff will be asked to enter details of each employee they are claiming for directly into the system (yes, really) – these details will include:
the employee’s name,
National Insurance number,
claim period and claim amount,
payroll/employee number (optional)
Employers with more than 100 or more furloughed staff will be asked to upload a file with the information rather than input it directly into the system. HMRC say that they will accept the following file types: .xls .xlsx .csv .ods
Likewise, this file should include the following information for each furloughed employee: their name, National Insurance number, claim period and claim amount, and payroll/employee number (optional).
If you want an agent to make the claim for you
If your business uses an agent who is authorised to act for your business for PAYE purposes, the agent will be able to make a claim on behalf of your business using their ID or password. So please speak to your agent now.
However, if your business uses a file-only agent (files your RTI return but doesn’t act for the business in other matters), the file-only agent won’t be able to make a claim on your behalf. Your file-only agent can assist you in obtaining the information you need to claim (which is listed above). You will need the information listed above in order to make the claim directly.
HMRC have said they cannot provide your employees with details of claims you make on their behalf. They have asked that businesses help by keeping their employees informed, answering any questions that they might have. Please ask your employees not to contact HMRC.
a Government Gateway (GG) ID and password. If you don’t already have a GG account, you will need one and you can apply for one here. (Please note, this process is taking at least 10 days or so, and the letter (!) HMRC sends confirming your Gateway ID and password will be send to your business address, so make sure you have a way of getting your hands on it!
Be enrolled for PAYE online. If you aren’t registered yet, you can do so now, or by going to GOV.UK and searching for ‘PAYE Online for employers’.
Employers should retain all records and calculations in respect of your claims.
HMRC confirms that the CJRS will be in place for at least 3 months from 1 March.
Which employees are covered?
The HMRC guidance states that CJRS will cover employees who have been on the payroll since 28th February this year, on any type of contract including:
full-time and part-time employees
employees on agency contracts, and
employees on flexible for zero-hour contracts
An employee is considered furloughed under the scheme only if he or she does no work for the employer. The scheme does not therefore cover the wages of employees whose hours are reduced. Note furloughed employees are allowed to undertake training for their current employer, and this training has to be paid at their full salary rate.
In recent updates to the CJRS scheme, employees who are unable to work because they have caring responsibilities resulting from COVID-19 can also be furloughed.
How to put employees on furlough leave?
Employers need to:
Decide which employees to designate as furloughed workers.
Notify those employees of the intended change. The HMRC guidance states that it is important to take legal advice on this because the changes will affect each worker’s contract of employment and need the workers’ agreement.
Consider whether you need to consult with employee representatives or trade unions. For example, where the employer intends to vary the contracts of 20 or more employees, and it intends to dismiss employees who do not consent to the change in their terms, for the purposes of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 (TULRCA), those employees who do not consent to the change in their terms will be classed as dismissed by reason of redundancy.
The employer will therefore have a duty to inform and consult appropriate employee representatives and notify the Secretary of State using form HR1.
The HMRC guidance states that employers will need to follow this process before placing employees on furlough leave.
Agree the change with the furloughed employees. Most employment contracts will not permit an employer to reduce an employee’s pay, provide them with no work, and change their employment status without agreement – otherwise there is the risk of a constructive/unfair dismissal, wrongful dismissal/breach of contract claims and unlawful deductions of wages claims.
Technically under the employment contracts each employee should be given the period of notice in their employment contract (e.g. one month for most employees or the number of weeks equivalent to the years of service if longer) before the change takes effect.
However, faced with the alternatives, which are likely to be unpaid leave, lay-off, or redundancy, the majority of affected employees are likely to agree to be placed on furlough leave.
Confirm the employees’ new status in writing. Ideally, the employer should advise how long it expects furlough leave to continue, however this may be difficult in the current climate. Employers may wish to put employees on furlough leave for an initial period, subject to review.
Submit information to HMRC about the employees that have been furloughed and their earnings through the new online portal, (see above).
Ensure that the employees do not carry out any further work while they are furloughed.
What wages should employers pay during the period of furlough leave?
During the period of furlough leave, the employer should pay the employee at least the lower of 80% of the employee’s salary or £2,500. In each case PAYE (Income Tax) and NI is deducted before the salary is paid to the employee.
The HMRC guidance states that employers can choose to top up wages to 100%, but are not obliged to do so.
For full-time and part-time salaried employees, the employee’s actual salary, before tax, as at 28 February 2020 should be used to calculate the 80%.
The employee’s wage will be subject to income tax and other deductions e.g NI and workplace pension contributions.
The HMRC guidance notes that fees, discretionary commission and bonuses should not be included.
HMRC states it will issue further guidance on how to calculate claims for employers national insurance contributions and the minimum automatic employer pension enrolment contributions before CJRS goes live.
Where an employee’s pay varies, the employer will be able to claim for either:
-the higher of the employee’s earnings in the same month the previous year, or
-the employee’s average monthly earnings in the 2019/20 tax year.
In the case of an employee who has been employed for less than a year, the employer will be able to claim for an average of the employee’s monthly earnings since he or she started work.
In the case of an employee who only started in February 2020, the employer will be required to pro-rate the employee’s earnings so far.
It states that, since employees are only entitled to the NMW while doing work, furloughed employees, who are not working, must be paid at the 80% rate (or £2,500) even if, based on their usual working hours, this would be below the applicable rate of NMW.
However, the Guidance goes on to state that if employees are required to, for example, complete online training courses while they are furloughed, then they must be paid at least the NMW for the time spent training, even if this is more than the 80% of their wage that will be subsidised.
The National Minimum wage from April 2020 is £8.72 for those aged 25 and over.
What happens if an employee is on Statutory Sick Pay?
Employees who are on sick leave or self-isolating should get statutory sick pay but can be furloughed during this time. We therefore think that an employee on contractual sick pay could also be placed on furlough leave.
Employees who are shielding in line with Public Health Guidance or at home looking after children can be placed in the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.
What should I say to employees and what should I ask them to sign?
The Guidance recommends that employers discuss furloughing with their staff and make any changes to the employment contract by agreement.
The template letter above, that you can download, is the second letter to send to your staff, after you have notified them initially that the business is considering furloughing. The second letter is the workers agreement to change their contract so that their salary is reduced and they are on furlough leave.
If the employer is planning to reduce the salary and any benefits related to salary (eg pension) to the 80% level, then under employment law this is an unlawful deduction from wages for the 20% of salary and benefits, and could be constructive (unfair dismissal). This is why it is important to get the workers agreement by signing the second letter.
Overall it is important to meet/speak with the worker to explain what the business is proposing to do and to seek their agreement. In effect this is consultation.
Please note that this second letter assumes that March salary and benefits were paid in full.
If this is not the case then please speak with us, as a more detailed letter will be needed explaining what is happening.
This second letter will need to be counter-signed by the employee and it is safest to get the second letter counter-signed even if there has been agreement by email. Under employment law it is important to have a counter-signed letter evidencing the change. If the employer is maintaining 100% of salary and benefits and just designating the employee as a furloughed worker a different letter will be sent. HMRC recommends that copies of these letters are kept for at least 5 years.
It is important to maintain good communication with employees and be available to speak as needed.
You should expect ongoing questions from your teams about this and returning from furlough leave, we advise using these to produce your own Q&A to help them. Please contact us if you need a return from furlough leave letter.
Are employers obliged to top up the remaining 20%?
The guidance for employees states that ‘your employer could choose to fund the differences between this payment and your salary, but does not have to’.
Withholding 20% of an employee’s salary will, however, amount to breach of contract and unlawful deduction of wages, unless the employee gives their consent. It is expected that the majority of employees will consent since furlough leave is a better alternative than unpaid leave, lay-off, or redundancy.
What happens to pension, holiday and other benefits?
Each employer will have different arrangements. This second letter needs careful customisation, as we’ve said, to reflect what is happening to these benefits. Employers can claim for the employers workplace pension contribution as under the grant, and when paying workers employers will deduct the worker’s workplace pension contribution and pay the contributions into the relevant pension scheme as normal.
Employees will continue to accrue the basic 20 days and 8 public holidays (5.6 weeks) Working Time Regulations statutory holiday over the furlough leave period, and employers will need to pay this at 100% salary (because it is a benefit accrued when the employee was receiving full salary) even if employers are only planning to pay 80% salary.
Can an employee request their employer puts them onto furlough leave?
Yes, an employee can request this, but the employer does not have to agree.
It is the employer’s decision which employees to place on furlough leave, if any. It seems that it is also the employer’s decision whether to place employees on furlough leave, or make them redundant.
Potentially redundant employees do not have a right to require their employer to place them on furlough leave as an alternative to redundancy. However, it is hoped that many employers will see the new scheme as preferable to business closure and making redundancies.
How do I choose which employees are placed on furlough leave and which are not?
Employers will make a commercial judgment about which critical business functions will need to carry on (e.g. Board or senior management oversight, IT support teams, finance teams, HR, legal, facilities management/security etc). Choosing who needs to be placed on furlough leave, and who must continue to work may prove a challenging task for some employers.
This is especially difficult if you intend to pay staff on furlough leave their full pay, while other staff are being asked to work as normal for their pay. Staff who were delivering services on-site, are likely to be natural candidates for furlough leave.
The starting point is to consider business needs as stated above. Keep records of why that decision was made showing which roles were critical to the business functioning during the coming three months.
The HMRC guidance states that equality and discrimination laws continue to apply to the selection process for employees to go on furlough leave. Take care to avoid direct or indirect discrimination in the selection process. Make contact if you need help or have queries on this.
Where an employer must select between staff doing identical business critical roles, the first step is to ask for volunteers to remain working, or use a random selection policy for large teams.
For clients we are advising who have employees who are no longer needed to deliver a service on site (e.g restaurants, leisure facilities, bars) as the site is shut, these clients have asked for volunteers to be placed into the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme. They have received very positive response and large numbers of workers accepting the re-designation in order to preserve their employment.
For the functions which are critical for the business (referred to above) employers could consider having enough staff available if a team member should go sick or have access to temporary worker support from home where possible so that critical function can continue.
What happens if the employer is planning to furlough 20 or more staff?
This letter is designed where less than 20 staff are employed by one legal entity at one establishment are to be included in the CJRS.
If there are more than 20 staff and the employer would have to consider redundancies if the employees did not accept the furlough leave at 80% salary, then the collective consultation paragraph in this letter needs to be included.
The Guidance makes specific reference to these risks and the need to take overall legal advice.
What happens to employees who have been made redundant, can they be furloughed and be in CJRS?
If you made employees redundant, or they stopped working for you on or after 28 February 2020, you can re-employ them, put them on furlough and claim for their wages through the scheme. This applies to employees that were made redundant or stopped working for you after 28 February, even if you do not re-employ them until after 19 March. This applies as long as the employee was on your payroll as at 28 February and had been notified to HMRC on an RTI submission on or before 28 February 2020. This means an RTI submission notifying payment in respect of that employee to HMRC must have been made on or before 28 February 2020
What happens to employees hired after 28 February 2020?
In the important change to the scheme we stated at the beginning, employees hired after 28th February are now eligible to join CJRS, if they were employed as of 19th March and were on your PAYE payroll on or before that date.
What is the minimum time that an employee can be furloughed?
Furlough leave runs for a minimum of 3 weeks. The scheme is open 1st March until end of October 2020. Claims should be started from the date that the employee finishes work and starts furlough, not when the decision is made to furlough, nor when the employee is written a letter confirming their furloughed status.
Can an employee volunteer or do training work during furlough leave?
A furloughed employee can volunteer e.g as an NHS volunteer, as long as he/she does not provide services or generate revenue for the organisation.
If an employee is required to complete online training courses whilst they are on furlough leave then they must be paid their 100% salary (which must be of course at least National Living Wage/National Minimum Wage) for the day/s spent training.
Can an employee work for different employer whilst on furlough leave?
in another important change to the scheme ,that we mentioned above, if contractually allowed, your employees are permitted to work for another employer whilst you have placed them on furlough leave. For any employer that takes on a new employee, the new employer should ensure they complete the HMRC new starter checklist form correctly. If the employee is furloughed from another employment, then Statement C of this starter checklist need to be ticked.
What happens to an employee who is on maternity leave, contractual adoption pay, maternity pay or shared parental pay?
The normal rules apply and they are entitled to claim the usual statutory pay or allowances.
For example an employee who qualifies for statutory maternity pay will still be eligible for 90% of their average weekly earnings in the first six weeks, followed by 33 weeks of pay paid at 90% of their average weekly earnings or the statutory flat rate (whichever is lower).The statutory flat rate is currently hundred and £148.68 a week, rising £151.20 a week from April 2020.
If the employer offers enhanced (earnings -related) contractual pay to women on maternity leave this is included as wage costs and can be claimed through CJRS.
The same principle applies to contractual adoption, paternity or shared parental pay.
Recapping what need to claim under CJRS?
It’s worth repeating these important details. To claim the grant employers will need:
a Government Gateway (GG) ID and password.
If you don’t already have a GG account, you will need one and you can apply for one here. (Please note, this process is taking at least 10 days or so, and the letter (!) HMRC sends confirming your Gateway ID and password will be send to your business address, so make sure you have a way of getting your hands on it!
Be enrolled for PAYE online. If you aren’t registered yet, you can do so now, or by going to GOV.UK and searching for ‘PAYE Online for employers’.
The bank account number and sort code you want HMRC to use when it pays the claim.
The name and phone number of the person in your business that HMRC should contact with any queries.
Your employer Self-Assessment UTR (Unique Tax Reference), Company UTR or CRN (Company Registration Number).
The name, employee number and National Insurance number for each furloughed employee.
Your employer PAYE reference number.
The number of employees being furloughed
Payroll/employee number for the furloughed employees (optional)
The claim period (start and end date)
Amount claimed (per the minimum length of furloughing of 3 consecutive weeks)
How frequently can an employer submit a claim?
An employer can only submit one claim every three weeks.
Can an employer backdate the claim to 1 March 2020?
The Guidance says yes if applicable, provided the claim only starts from the date the employee stopped working. HMRC has reserved the right to audit all claims. For cash flow planning we suggest being prudent and waiting until the CJRS portal is active to see exactly what statement/information needs to be provided to HMRC in order to verify the date of the furlough leave.
Can I still make employees redundant whilst they are on furlough or afterwards?
Can I change an employee to be back to work after they have completed the minimum 3 weeks furlough leave?
Yes, employers can place employees on furlough leave more than once, and one period can follow straight after an existing furlough period, while the scheme is open. The scheme will be open for at least 3 months.
What happens when CJRS ends?
Employees that have been on furlough leave have the same rights as they did previously. Returning employees will still have their usual rights to statutory sick pay, maternity rights, other parental rights and rights against unfair dismissal and suffering discrimination. Please contact us if you need a return from furlough leave letter.
What happens if the business can no longer receive back all employees when their furlough leave ends?
Employers will need to make a decision, depending on the business situation at that time, whether all employees can return to their duties.
If the business is not in a situation to receive employees back when their period of furlough leave ends, it will be necessary to consider termination of employment through a fair and reasonable redundancy process.
It is not yet clear whether the furlough leave scheme will allow people to alternate periods of work, with periods of furlough leave. If this is the case, obviously the flexibility will help employers and employees alike.
Please contact us by email or phone, number below, if you need advice or you want to discuss what to do next. We are here to help.
In this article we highlight the potential risks and benefits for businesses of allowing employees to use their own personal mobile devices (tablets, smartphones, laptops or notebook computers) for business purposes. We talk through the important issues to consider when putting together an effective Bring Your Own Device(BYOD) policy, to maximise the upsides whilst limiting the risks.
Fuelled by the surging use of smartphones, high speed internet services and 4G as well as the growth in remote and flexible working, staff today have come to expect to use their own devices to conduct business. Employers of every size have been quick to adopt a BYOD approach.
Although the following figures are from the USA, the BYOD statistics below show impact of BYOD in the workplace and its widespread adoption.
59% of organisations allow employees to use their own devices for work purposes. Another 13% had planned to allow use within a year (From Tech Pro Research published in 2016).
87% of companies rely on their employees using personal devices to access business apps conducted on a survey of 409 respondents among CEOs, CFOs and CIOs who work for companies with >100 employees, published in 2016).
As of 2016, six out of 10 companies had a BYOD-friendly policy in place (from the same Research by Syntonic).
BYOD benefits
BYOD can bring a number of benefits to businesses, including:
Increased flexibility and efficiency in working practices.
Improved employee morale and job satisfaction.
A reduction in business costs as employees invest in their own devices.
BYOD risks
The boom in BYOD has been matched with an upsurge in activity by criminals trying to exploit the data and intellectual property stored on personal mobile devices. The use of personal mobile devices for business purposes increases the risk of damage to a business’s:
IT resources and communications systems.
Confidential and proprietary information.
Corporate reputation
Customer and employee data
The General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) which became law on 25th May 2018, has increased the risks of BYOD through:
enhancing the rights of individuals with regards to their data (e.g right of access, correction, deletion), increasing the legal responsibility on businesses (the data controller in this context) to keep data secure, and allowing the ICO to fine organisations for breaches and non compliance.
Obviously allowing employees to use their own devices to conduct business comes with an increased risk of data breaches, both physical (such as leaving a device on the train) or electronic (such as hacking or malware).
The research cited above showed that even before GDPR came into force, companies and CIOs were well aware of the security implications of a BYOD approach: 61% of respondents in the Syntonic survey viewed mobile devices as less secure than fixed devices such as desktop personal computers, but said that security measures aren’t always consistent.
Ownership of the device
Personal mobile devices are owned, maintained and supported by the user, rather than the business. This means that a business will have significantly less control over the device than it would normally have over a corporately-owned and provided device. But the business remains responsible for protecting company data stored on those personal mobile devices.
Issues to consider in a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policy
A BYOD policy brings with it unique challenges which employers must address, such as:
How will the business record and keep track of the devices used to access company data?
What security measures will be installed on employees’ devices?
What are the steps required if a device is lost or stolen?
Will an employee be required to a return a device to the company for wiping on termination of employment?
Are company emails stored on the employee’s device? If so particular care should be taken when an employee leaves the business, as company emails and data will remain on their device.
The tone of the BYOD policy should be varied depending on whether the BYOD policy is voluntary (and the employer offers an alternative company-owned device) or whether using their own device is the only option available to the employee. If the policy is purely voluntary, then the employer may impose stricter limitations on usage and more stringent monitoring requirements. If employees are required to use their own device for business purposes, then there is likely to be less scope to impose limitations, particularly if there is an associated cost for employees.
How to manage the risks associated with a BOYD scheme
To de-risk the business when adopting a BYOD scheme, employers should:
Audit and assess the risks, including assessing: where the data is held? what type of data is stored? how will the data be transferred? what is the potential for leakage ? how easily employees may blur personal and business use? and how cloud-based services will affect security?
Ensure that security measures impose controls on access to data, encryption and PIN numbers, and verify the device’s security features.
Keep pace with advances in the features of devices and maintain a list of approved models. Choose Your Own Device (CYOD), is becoming more popular, where employees choose from a list of models pre-approved by the business.
Insert safe and secure deletion methods on the device. Note that the ICO guidance recommends that portable devices used to store and transmit personal data should be encrypted. A failure to protect data using encryption software may lead to the ICO taking enforcement action against an employer.
Consider how the use of company data on the device can be monitored. The ICO guidance recommends using technology to monitor the device to assess data leakage and loss, but reminds employers to consider employee privacy; a careful balancing act must be maintained and employees should be informed of the monitoring.
Have a well-publicised BYOD policy.
Before implementing a BYOD policy, an organisation should look at the strategic and business case for it, and conduct a privacy impact assessment. In particular, employers should consider:
Compliance with relevant laws – the GDPR 2018 we have already mentioned, and the Data Protection Act 2018. Privacy impact assessments are a legal requirement under the GDPR in some circumstances. Implementing a BYOD policy will almost certainly require employers to carry out a privacy impact assessment.
Whether consultation with any staff forums, employee bodies or trade unions are required before implementation of a new BYOD policy.
Whether BYOD will save the company enough money, taking into account the potential hidden costs such as employee reimbursement, licensing, infrastructure and support to justify a potential reduction in control over the processing of company data (particularly if employees are using a variety of makes and ages of device which may have varying degrees of security sophistication).
Whether there are any technical limitations to implementing a BYOD policy. An example of this might be capacity restrictions on the internal Wi-Fi network, or a lack of sophistication in the IT team with respect to technical security measures.
Securing data stored on a device
A business is responsible for protecting company data stored on personal mobile devices. Businesses should consider implementing security measures to prevent unauthorised or unlawful access to the business’s systems or company data, for example:
Requiring the use of a strong password to secure the device.
Using encryption to store data on the device securely.
Ensuring that access to the device is locked or data automatically deleted if an incorrect password is inputted too many times.
The business should ensure that its employees understand what type of data can be stored on a personal device and which type of data cannot.
Mobile Device Management for BYOD
Mobile Device Management software allows a business to remotely manage and configure many aspects of personal mobile devices. Typical features include:
Automatically locking the device after a period of inactivity.
Executing a remote wipe of the device (make sure employees are aware which data might be automatically or remotely deleted and in which circumstances).
Preventing the installation of unapproved apps.
Monitoring use of a device
Employers should also consider how, and to what extent, they will have access to and monitor company and personal data contained on employees’ personal devices. Employees have a reasonable expectation of privacy under Article 8 ECHR. Steps should be taken to ensure that company and personal data are segregated on personal devices, and access to personal data by the employer is minimised.
Loss or theft of a device
The biggest cause of data loss is still the physical loss of a personal mobile device (for example, through theft or by being left on public transport).
Loss or theft of the device could lead to unauthorised or unlawful access to the business’s systems or company data. The business must ensure a process is in place for quickly and effectively revoking access to a device in the event that it is reported lost or stolen.
Businesses should consider registering devices with a remote locate and wipe facility to maintain confidentiality of the data in the event of a loss or theft.
Transferring data
BYOD arrangements generally involve the transfer of data between the personal mobile device and the business’ systems. This process can present risks, especially where it involves a large volume of sensitive information. Transferring the data via an encrypted channel offers the maximum protection.
Employees should be encouraged to avoid using public cloud-based sharing which have not been fully assessed. Businesses should provide guidance to employees on how to assess the security of wi-fi networks (such as those in hotels or cafes).
Departing employees
A business needs to think about how it will manage data held on an employee’s personal mobile device should the employee leave the business.
BYOD and the ‘Always on’ culture
There is increased commentary around the potential negative consequences of remote working and mobile device usage and its impact on employees’ wellbeing as a result of the ‘always on’ culture. Particularly where use of personal devices is voluntary, employers may wish to consider including the optional ‘work-life balance’ sub-clause in any BYOD policy, to help evidence a commitment to their duty of care towards employees and counter claims in connection with, for example, stress-related illnesses from employees.
BYOD and registering employees’ devices
A key aspect of an effective BYOD policy is ensuring that the employer is aware of the data processing activities that are being conducted in respect of company data. To mitigate against the risks of unlawful processing and undisclosed data breaches, employers should require all employees to register their devices with the employer before using it for business purposes. Employers should also take this opportunity to set up the device with appropriate security software, and register it with remote locate and wipe technology in the event a device is lost or stolen.
BYOD and unauthorised access and repairs
There is a risk of data breach if an employee arranges for a device to be repaired by an unknown third party who may be able to access company data. Requiring that all repairs are arranged through the company will allow for greater control over who has access to the device. If this approach is adopted, the company should also meet or contribute to the cost of repairs. Therefore, the company must balance the costs of contributing to repairs against the risks of a data breach.
ICO guidance on BYOD
The Information Commissioner’s Office has published guidance on bring your own device and the data protection issues for employers who adopt a BYOD approach. The guidance has not yet been updated to take into account GDPR but many of the practical points it makes are still valid and useful. It highlights:
the importance of having a clear BYOD policy that is regularly audited and monitored for compliance
that staff connecting their devices to the company IT systems fully understand their responsibilities
that alongside a BYOD policy, employers create and maintain an Acceptable Use Policy (to provide guidance and accountability of behaviour) in order to minimise the risk of unauthorised or unlawful processing of data or the accidental loss or destruction of personal data.
NCSC guidance on BYOD
The National Cyber Security Centre, part of GCHQ, has published a useful infographic as part of its summary of the key security aspects for large and public sector organisations.
Choose Your Own Device (CYOD) is likely to offer employees an advantage to select one among several enterprise-approved systems and this is predicted to eliminate standardization and security challenges of BYOD system.
This article seeks to spotlight the key issues around BYOD and how adopting a BYOD approach may affect your business and HR practices.
There has been a dramatic increase in the numbers of claims being brought to Employment Tribunals against Employers since fees were abolished in July 2017. In January to March 2019 single claims – defined as being claims made by a sole employee against their employer for a breach of their employment rights – were running at 10,000 per quarter, compared to an average of 4,250 claims per quarter throughout 2016.
This means that single claim receipts are running at approx 40,000 per year now, compared to around 18,000 per year prior to fees being abolished.
From years of experience working alongside HR Directors and solving thousands of HR problems, we have compiled these golden rules to help you de risk your business against claims, and to put you in the strongest position to defend a claim should it arise.
# Avoid workplace claims by having good employment contracts and keep them up to date
This is a legal requirement. The penalty is up to 4 weeks pay awarded by an Employment Tribunal. Tailor the employment contracts for different staff, for example CEOs and Senior Sales Directors need Restrictive Covenants so they do not poach customers once they leave.
# Tailor your staff handbook to your business
Include all the policies you need to show to staff what is good and bad behaviour. Include for example a Social Media Policy and Data Protection Policy (or Privacy Standard) in your handbook to show what is acceptable and unacceptable use of Social Media and personal data. Set out examples of misconduct in your disciplinary policy. For more information on this, read our article on how to avoid social media misuse and protect from liability.
# Follow all UK Visa and Immigration rules
This is so important for the current Tier 2 visa programme to avoid fines of upto £20,000.
# Communicate the New Employment Laws fast and first
Communicate new employment laws to your team before they happen and before your team learn of them from other sources. It is of course easy for Staff to be right up to speed on their rights. So be pro-active, it demonstrates that your business is thinking about its people. A typical example would be introducing and explaining the new employment laws or Flexible Working policies as they become available. Here is our slideshare which explains flexible working.
We keep track of the latest changes in Employment Law, here to help you
Take advantage of these changes to prepare policies, communicate and explain these changes to your Staff.
We can keep you and your teams abreast all the new laws on the horizon and what they mean for your business before they come into force. You can subscribe to our newsletter: just click here, or in the footer below.
# Follow your formal procedures (e.g disciplinary/ grievance/ redundancy), Follow what the business states in the staff handbook and employment contracts
Employment Tribunals generally take a dim view of Employers who don’t follow their own policies. Policies are there to be used. Often an employer who simply starts without planning will get into difficulty. Most employees will obtain their own legal advice and will challenge the policy when possible. It’s critically important to get the process right. If you don’t start the process correctly from the beginning, it is very difficult to go back and start it again. Employers can and do earn respect from other staff who see them dealing with an issue properly and fairly in accordance with the policy in the handbook and with employment law.
If employers fail to follow a valid disciplinary or grievance process, an Employment Tribunal can increase the Award by upto 25%.
# Don’t be afraid to use Settlement Offers
At any time employers can make a settlement offer to an employee to leave and receive a reasonable settlement. The employee cannot refer to the settlement offer or any conversations regarding it at an Employment Tribunal. These “protected conversations” and are confidential. There is more know-how in this article which outlines the correct way to make and manage successful settlement offers.
# Avoid workplace claims by using Mediation to resolve staff problems and grievances early
Mediation is a voluntary and informal process where a trained mediator helps the employer and member of staff resolve a dispute.
Long established in family law and in commercial dispute resolution, employers are turning to Workplace Mediation as a cost effective and fast way to resolve issues between colleagues. If unresolved these dipsutes can seriously undermine their own and the employer’s performance and staff morale.
Workplace Mediation can resolve:
– personality clashes and employees at loggerheads, including issues between Senior directors and at Board level
– communication breakdowns
– relationship breakdown within a team
– bullying and harassment
– cultural misunderstandings due to different nationalities working in the same workplace.
The HR Director is not involved so remains neutral. Here is more detail explaining how Workplace Mediation can solve conflict at work and which UK companies already use it extensively.
We offer a fixed price Mediation service, at prices ranging from £950 plus VAT to £2,000 plus VAT depending upon the complexity of the situation. In our experience, effective resolution can usually be gained within a day, albeit an intensive day for those involved. Some follow up support is included and available if this becomes necessary. Mediation is much more cost effective when compared to the expense of an Employment Tribunal Case. The average legal fees of an ET case for the employer are between £15,000 and £20,000.
# Establish a transparent pay, promotion, bonus and share option structure to help avoid equal pay claims and to reward those employees who contribute
Once again, take the opportunity to outline and explain the benefits of these schemes to your teams. Explain the changes to your teams as they occur e.g in overtime and holiday pay, workplace pensions so employers can plan.
Establish enterprise management incentive (EMI) share schemes to share the value creation with key staff.
although the Gender Pay Gap laws only apply to employers with 250 or more staff this principle will influence any employer’s staff when they consider their future prospects.
# Bring an HR specialist onboard and ask us for legal advice
Hire or consult with an HR Director. Experienced HR s
pecialists see it as their role to help run the business run more effectively. Give your HR Director authority for all HR issues and make sure he/she is responsible for this area. He/she should update the CEO/CFO and Operational Directors on law changes and the action to take on HR problems so that the business acts consistently and knowledge is shared. We work closely all the time with our HR Directors to make their roles as efficient as possible and together solve HR disputes
# Make it a habit to communicate with Staff in order to avoid workplace claims
It may sound straightforward, but this practice is so often overlooked by employers. When you see a problem developing, talk with your employee(s) on an informal basis at the earliest opportunity. This stops the dispute escalating into a situation which could result in complicated and time consuming grievance, worse still an Employment Tribunal claim. Remember to keep detailed notes of every conversation however informal.
Even more golden rules to avoid workplace claims
They may go in and out of fashion, but its good practice to have regular appraisals. Agree with the employer how regularly they take place. There are a number of elements to cover on appraisal forms and in appraisal meetings that will help protect your business from workplace claims. For more details, do get in touch; details below.
If an employee has raised a grievance, at the first grievance meeting take the opportunity to ask the employee what is the solution that he/she wants and listen. The clue to a speedier, cleaner resolution is often revealed in the responses to this simple question. You may not be able or willing to meet the solution an employee requires, but don’t let that stop you asking. This sets a solution orientated framework and can fast track to the underlying issue and ultimately resolving the problem better. It may be the employer can propose a modified solution back to the employee which solves the grievance.
In Stress Cases: offer confidential counselling with a trained expert.
Know when to use an Informal Meeting and when to use a Formal Meeting.
All deadlines and staging dates for auto enrolment have now passed. This means that under the Pensions Act 2008, every employer in the UK must put their qualifying employees in a workplace pension scheme (called auto enrolment) and, where appropriate, pay contributions. If you employ just one person, you are classified as an employer and have certain legal duties. This article from the pensions regulator web site explains more about ongoing pensions duties for employers. If you are employing staff for the first time (or haven’t caught up with auto enrolment) act now and click on this link to the pensions regulator web site, to find out what to do and by when.
Auto enrolment, Employer contributions increasing in 2019.
The minimum amounts that employers and their staff have to pay into their workplace pension scheme increased in April 2018, and increase again in April 2019.
As the employer, you must by law make a minimum contribution towards this increased amount. You can decide to pay contributions at a rate that suits your business objectives, so long as you meet at least the Total minimum contribution figure, on the far right in the table below. If, for example, you decide to pay the minimum contribution (i.e 3% from April 2019 onwards) your employees must make up the difference (contributing 5%) to reach the total of 8 % minimum contribution.
Date
Employer pays minimum contribution of
Employee pays contribution of
Total minimum contribution of
6th April 2018 – 5th April 2019
2%
3%
5%
6th April 2019 onwards
3%
5%
8%
Contributions are set on “qualifying” earnings of over £112 per week to an upper limit of £827 per week.
2. Remember to keep assessing your workforce, as someone not yet old enough or not yet earning the minimum salary required may in time fit the criteria and need to be auto enrolled. The link below explains what salary levels qualify for pension auto enrolment Pension Regulator Know Your Workforce site –
3. Review your pension arrangements – there is paperwork to complete if you want an existing pension scheme to be approved. The pension scheme you use for auto enrolment must pass a ‘Quality Test’ in order to comply with new legislation. There is to be consultation on simplifying this too.
4. Communicate the changes to all your workers – The Pensions Regulator requires employees to be provided with specific information about auto enrolment, including what it means for them and their right to opt-out.
5. Automatically enrol your ‘eligible jobholders’ – and remember that in three years you will need to re-enrol any who decide to opt out
6. Register with The Pensions Regulator and keep records – You will need to register your scheme with The Pensions Regulator. Registering the scheme will include providing a range of evidence to the regulator as listed below:
Overview of the organisation
Details of the pensions scheme
The number of jobholders that have been auto enrolled
You will also have to provide evidence to the Pensions Regulator on an ongoing basis demonstrating that you have met your auto enrolment responsibilities. This evidence will include:
Name and Date of Birth of employees
Employees salary
Contributions made in each payment period
Dates of contribution
Auto enrolment dates
Details of employees who opt-out of the scheme
Failure to provide sufficient evidence will incur penalties and fines. Be aware too that employers who fail to heed a 28 day warning notice from The Pensions Regulator risk a fine which increases each day. The fine for small employers with 1 to 4 staff who fail to comply with an “escalating penalty notice” is £50 per day and £500 per day for those with 5 to 49 staff.
7. Contribute to your workers’ pensions – The legislation sets out minimum contribution levels at which eligible employees must be automatically enrolled. As in the diagram above, employer contributions will start at 1% of an employee’s salary. This will increase to 2 % by April 2019, then rising to 3%; dates are subject to approval by Parliament and may change. For more details and planning advice visit https://www.thepensionsregulator.gov.uk/employers/planning-for-automatic-enrolment.aspx
Employer and Employee Contributions for pension auto enrolment
Employees must also contribute to the pension to receive the employer’s benefits. Employee contributions will start at 0.8%. This will increase to 2.4% by 2019, then rising to 4%. The Pensionable Salary for every worker between £5,668 and £41,450 per annum includes:
Salary
Wages
Commission
Bonuses
Overtime
Statutory sick pay
Statutory maternity, paternity and adoption pay.
What to do next.
What is the impact on employers’ cashflow of Pension auto enrolment?
It is important that all businesses start planning for auto enrolment and consider how this will affect cash flow and how you will deal with it in terms of your employees eg will this be a form of pay increase?
Which employees qualify for Workplace Pension Schemes?
Eligible jobholders have to be automatically enrolled. This is a jobholder who:
is aged at least 22 but has not yet reached state pension age, and
earns above the earnings trigger for automatic enrolment, currently £833 per month: (£192 per week)These figures change year on year so do che ck The Pensions Regulator website here.
Also check The Pension Regulator Know Your Workforce web site here
Non-eligible jobholders are not eligible for automatic enrolment but they must be offered the opportunity ‘opt in’ to an automatic enrolment scheme. This is a jobholder who:
is aged at least 16 and under 75, and
is earning between £486 – £833 monthly ( £112 – £192 weekly)
is aged at least 16 and under 22, or between state pension age and under 75, and earns above £9,440.
Employees earning less than £5,668 have the right to join a pension scheme but there is no obligation on employer to contribute.
What are the age limits for pension auto enrolment?
The age band for eligibility is between 22 and the state pension age, 67. Retaining the state pension age as the upper age limit gives people access to pension saving during their normal working lives and avoids automatically enrolling people for whom saving is no longer the right option. Assess your workforce to see how many are likely to opt-in to the new workplace pension scheme.
What changes do employers need to make to Employment Contracts and staff Handbooks for workplace pensions?
You will need to inform and consult with staff as every employment contract will need the clause about pensions changed according to what type of workplace pension scheme you put in place. The staff handbook will also need to refer to the pension auto-enrolment scheme you have put in place.
What payroll changes need to be made for workplace pensions?
You will need to contact your payroll provider to ensure the correct changes are made by way of salary deductions and reporting in pay slips. You should also decide if your business is going to offer salary exchange arrangements. If salary exchange is used as well that can add additional complications. Salary exchange is a mechanism to enable staff to exchange part of their gross salary in return for a non cash benefit such as employer contributions into a pension scheme. This means they get 100% of the salary exchanged going into their pension scheme because no PAYE or NICs are deducted.
Workplace Mediation has long been gathering momentum, becoming increasingly popular amongst UK companies who now use it as an effective way to resolve disputes at work. Mediation can provide solutions which meet the needs of all parties; its cost effective, fast (90% are resolved within one day), avoids disruption, removes the debilitating effects of unresolved conflict and can pave the way for restored workplace relationships.
The Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution (CEDR) published their latest Mediation Audit in May 2021. This 2 yearly survey of UK commercial lawyers and mediators, assesses the case numbers, take up of mediation and attitudes towards it.
Up until September 2020, the number of mediations carried out in England and wales increased by 38% (to 16,500 mediations in the 2020 report, from 12,000 in 2018). The first Audit carried out in 2003 reported just 2000 mediation cases.
The overall settlement rate was 93%, improving on an already impressive 89% in the 2018 audit, with 73% of cases settling on the mediation day, and the remaining settling as a result of the mediation, shortly afterwards.
Online mediation has, not surprisingly, jumped during the Covid-19 pandemic. From representing approx 10% of the the total number of mediations before the pandemic, to 89% of all mediation cases between March and September 2020. There is no sure fire data on whether online mediation has impacted the settlement rate. But CEDR’s statistics show an impressive @ 90% settlement rate for online mediations.
So what is Workplace Mediation and how can it solve conflict at work?
What is workplace mediation?
In a workplace mediation the mediator, who is an impartial third party, helps 2 or more staff in dispute to attempt to reach an agreement. Any agreement comes from those in dispute, not from the mediator. The mediator is not there to judge the issue e.g. to say one member of staff is right and the other is wrong, or to tell those involved in the mediation what they should do. The mediator is in charge of the process of seeking to resolve the problem but not the outcome. It is for the staff members in dispute to agree the outcome to resolve the dispute. An agreement settling the dispute is then signed by the members of staff. Workplace mediation is often a voluntary process and all discussions are confidential.
Who can use workplace mediation?
Any employer can use workplace mediation. It is regularly used for resolving conflict involving:
colleagues of a similar job or grade
unresolved issues between a line manager and his/her staff
It’s difficult for an HR Director, any Senior Manager or indeed the business owner to be seen as neutral in a mediation. He or she will know the personalities involved and will not be seen as impartial. An external mediator will help show that HR is looking to resolve this dispute without taking sides. The HR Director or Manager also may be involved later in a grievance or disciplinary dispute.
Workplace mediation is not suitable for some situations , for example where a discrimination or whistle–blowing grievance has been raised and it must be investigated. Note that mediation may also not be appropriate for situations that involve sexual harassment which is a serious issue requiring particular handling. For more on this, see our Employer’s guide to handling sexual harassment at work.
When is workplace mediation used?
Common examples of situations where workplace mediation works are:
personality clashes
communication breakdowns
relationship breakdown within a team
bullying and harassment
cultural misunderstandings due to different nationalities working in the same workplace
Workplace Mediation can be used before a formal grievance has been identified or after a formal dispute has been resolved to rebuild relationships
The Legal Partners has used workplace mediation for clients very successfully to resolve conflict in the Care, IT and Professional Services sectors in particular. It is very suitable to workplaces where there are communication difficulties within the business and within teams.
What are the benefits of workplace mediation within the business?
Taking a dispute to an Employment Tribunal is now very costly for both employers and employees, and rarely actually resolves the underlying issues that may have caused the initial problem to occur. The Employment Tribunal will give judgement on the employment dispute at the time but will not resolve any underlying workplace situation problems.
Cost savings of using Workplace Mediation
Workplace Mediation can save many organizational costs.
it avoids formal grievance and appeal proceedings which can consume a lot of HR Directors’ and Senior Management time and resources. It’s important to note that workplace mediation could form part of the Step 1 Informal Action to resolve a grievance. For further details on resolving grievances, see our related article Handling and employee grievance, five key actions
workers take sickness absence while there is a conflict situation at work which leads to expensive temporary workers needing to be hired
it can avoid staff turnover and re-recruitment and retraining costs
it can avoid low staff morale and lower productivity
it can repair working relationships within teams so they focus on the team and corporate goals
What are the benefits of workplace mediation undertaken outside of the business?
Any unnecessary conflict can be bad for PR outside of the business and bad for the morale of the workers who are no longer ambassadors for the business but instead can spread negative PR.
Which organisations already use workplace mediation?
Workplace Mediation is good for the employer and employee, and many major businesses use it:
Marks & Spencer has been using mediation since 2011 and employees find resolving grievances informally less stressful, more effective and a quicker solution than raising a formal grievance.
Arcadia Group which has more than 2500 outlets and owns a number of worlds-known high street brands including Topshop and Topman. Arcadia group calculated that in particular grievances between managers and their team members were taking at least 3 weeks to resolve. By using workplace mediation since 2009 Arcadia Group has significantly these types of grievances by 50%.
The US Postal Service has over 600,000 workers. It uses a REDRESS (Resolve Employment Disputes Reach Equitable Solutions Swiftly) internal mediation service. This workplace mediation service provides a fast, fair, neutral and informal alternative to traditional counselling and grievance procedures. Employees know that they will be making the decisions, are expected to try to understand the other party’s concerns and to look at options for addressing those concerns. Outcomes include settlement, withdrawal of the complaint, or where no agreement is reached, rarely, continuation to formal processes.
Our Social Media Legal Toolkit is a simple way to ensure you avoid social media liability and keep your business out of trouble,to preventing any litigation from social media misuse by employees. It includes: Social Media Policy + IT & Systems usage Policy + 1 hour of our advice or training with your staff to clearly spell out what they must, must not do, something Apple Retail UK and Wetherspoons undertook wisely to their huge advantage when it came to the crunch. For what happened and to find out practical steps you can take to avoid Social Media liability, read our article:
For a fixed price of £950 + plus VAT you are ready to protect your business immediately. To purchase your toolkit, email or call us directly, our details are below.
Exposure through Social Media is rapidly becoming part and parcel of an organisation’s day to day operation. Even if your business isn’t actively on Social Media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook or messaging Apps such as WeChat or WhatsApp, your employees most likely will be. Most employers get into trouble over, or on social media because they haven’t put policies in place and they haven’t set expectations with staff of what is good and bad behavior online. Below we’ve put together a 5 point summary of the risks involved and the steps you need to take to avoid Social Media misuse and protect your business from liability. It provides an overview of the law in this area. Please talk to us for a complete understanding of how it may affect your particular circumstances.
No excuses, just security. Purchase our Social Media Toolkit today.
We’ve created a Toolkit to Using Social Media at work, its designed to help you put together these policies and controls – and stick to them – to avoid social media misuse and so protect your business and your employees from liability.
Our Social Media Legal Toolkit is a simple way to keep your business out of trouble and to prevent any litigation from social media misuse by employees. It includes: Social Media Policy + IT & Systems usage Policy + 1 hour of our advice or training with your staff to clearly spell out what they must, must not do, For a fixed price of £950+vat you are ready to protect your business. Purchase your Toolkit today, email us directly or call on 0203 755 5288.
Avoid social media misuse by staff and protect from liability.
If your staff use : Social Media (personal and business) email and the internet at work, If they send work related emails or discuss the workplace on the internet & on Social Media,
you do need to take action to protect the business from social media misuse.
This article will help you:
manage employees use of email, the internet or Social Media – where use is excessive, inappropriate and/or leads to loss of productivity
protect your business against liability for employees actions on Social Media sites
monitor employees use of social networks without infringing their privacy
protect the business when an employee/s leaves. Remember the HMV case when the company’s redudnacy programme was leaked as it was happening on twitter (link) by a social media manager at the company.
Use Social Media and IT & Systems Policies in your Staff Handbook
It is vital to:
1. conduct a Risk Assessment. This will identify:
Positive use eg Sales and Marketing, Recruitment, Competitor tracking, Training, Research; the business will want to allow certain staff to use the internet/Social Media for these activities.
Negative Uses – reputational risks of employees eg posting derogatory comments on Facebook. Your business can be liable for the acts of your employees on Social Media unless you have taken reasonable steps to prevent such action. The Social Media Policy is one way of demonstrating this. Another example is through training.
Permitted Personal Use – using Social Media privately in work time when in the office, (e.g during the lunch break) or similarly when working from home during work time.
Who owns the contact information on Social Media eg Linked in?
2. Include policies on the use of
IT & Systems, and
Social Media usage
in your Staff Handbook to state what is permitted and what is not permitted usage. Be clear that if Social Media usage is permitted during lunch time specify that that is the 1 hour period during the employee’s lunch break. Employers have lost cases at Employment Tribunal when they do not clearly specify what these permitted hours are. 3. In your Disciplinary Policies, state that breaches of the IT & Systems policy and/or Social Media policies will be treated as Misconduct or Gross Misconduct depending on the severity. The Apple Retail Store case below, illustrates how important this is. These polices allow you to set and send clear expectations of acceptable & unacceptable behaviour around use of Social Media to your teams.
4. Have regular training on how to use Social Media well, for example:
using twitter correctly
how to engage with contacts using Linked in
how to make postings on Facebook public or private within the group
how to organize contacts in google + groups
hangouts and the privacy settings
Help your staff understand their digital footprint. A digital footprint is the trail of everything someone has posted, commented on, downloaded, and reviewed on line. This trail of content remains in the public domain, and could affect them and the company they work for. To understand more about digital footprint, read https://www.internetsociety.org/your-digital-footprint-matters For those who have grown up with social media, and other workers whose familiarity with social media might lead them to sleepwalk through it without understanding the implications, this video courtesy of safeinternetbanking.be can be a useful starting point and wake up call. Examples of social media misuse and litigation are now very common and becoming more so. Take two key cases that made the headlines in recent years. A former Wetherspoons employee lost her case (her dismissal by Wetherspoons was held to be fair) because, whilst at work and during work time, she posted derogatory remarks about customers on her facebook account. Her privacy settings were not set appropriately and the customers saw these remarks.This was in beach of Wetherspoon’s carefully worded Social Media policy. In the Crisp v Apple Retail case, Apple Retail defended the case and won because employee Mr Crisp had received a clear, well communicated Social Media policy and training from Apple on what was acceptable and unacceptable online, so his defence failed. Mr Crisp’s right to freedom of expression under the European Convention on Human Rights was overridden by the harm he had caused Apple by his derogatory comments on FB.
5. Monitor what is happening in Social Media channels.
This is important because if someone, including employees, are badmouthing your company online, you want to know what’s being said about and who is saying it. Check your company’s ditigal footprint regularly using social media monitoring sites, or google alerts. Google alerts allows you to set up multiple alerts. Set these up independently, one for your name, another for the company name, for the brand, for any key products or employees, another for important keywords etc.Make sure there is someone in the business to monitor these and gather the reports from the results. Plan who will see the reports, what action is taken if something negative is found; follow though. According to research undertaken by recruitment firm MyJobGroup.co.uk 40% of UK employees surveyed admit to criticising their employer on social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. When it comes to Social Media usage, your policy will only be as effective as the follow-up & enforcement you practice. 6. If a potential issues crops up, it is vital to collect the evidence as part of any investigatory phase of a disciplinary procedure. It can sometimes be difficult to find the alleged derogatory posting on platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, so always take a screen grab/screen print, save it and print a colour copy of the offending posting(s). Employers have the right to monitor email and Social Media accounts -under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act2000 (RIPA) – for legitimate purposes eg to investigate wrongdoing. Always refer in the Social Media policy that this may happen. On the subject of emails, there is a great deal employees can do to protect the company from misuse of emails. Read this article for practical suggestions to minimize risks and liability from email misuse. Social media needs to be carefully considered in your risk management program. For more advice or to purchase your Social Media Toolkit, email us or call on 0203 755 5288.
With new shared parental leave laws in place, it’s a good time to think about how to handle multiple requests for shared parental leave from male and female members of your workforce. Employees can make request for shared parental leave from February 2015 for all birth due dates/matching dates (for adoption) from April 2105 onwards. Watch this slideshare for the changes to maternity and paternity leave entitlements and a quick, visual overview of the key points to remember.
If you haven’t already done so, now is the time to create a Shared Parental Leave policy to include in your Employee Staff Handbook. With this in mind we have developed a Shared Parental Leave Toolkit to meet the needs of busy Employers and HR Directors. Our Shared Parental Leave toolkit will keep you compliant, save you time, help make your business more attractive to new employees and more appreciated by your existing ones, and help cut burdensome HR admin going forward. With the Toolkit, you can be confident that:
Your business is complying with the new Shared Parental Leave laws and procedures
You can demonstrate this to your current staff and prospective employees, all beneficial to employee retention and recruitment
You will have a tailored policy to include straight into your Staff Handbook
You have the paperwork in place to handle requests for Shared Parental Leave, minimizing administrative upheaval on the business
You know how to deal with the different types of shared parental leave requests a worker can now make.
The toolkit includes: A new Shared Parental Leave Policy + Template letters for you to use when administrating requests for Shared Parental Leave + 30 minutes legal consultation with one of our lawyers to help you tailor the policy to your company, we can also highlight areas where the policy may need further refining in future and the knock – on effects on your company’s Maternity & Paternity Leave policies. All for £350 plus VAT. Your consultation can be by phone on 0203 755 5288 or by email at Abigail.Oprey@TheLegalPartners.com.
This is a detailed guide to managing employee stress at work for HR professionals, Employers and Line Managers. It covers the law relating to stress that you need to know and practical tips on how you and your company can manage employee stress, minimizing it’s effect on the business, being protected from claims, and ensuring you take the appropriate steps to help your employee.
What is stress?
The Health & Safety Executive (HSE) defines stress as the “adverse reaction people have to excessive pressures or other types of demand placed on them”.
There is sometimes confusion between pressure and stress. It is healthy for staff to have challenges to meet; too much pressure however, can be harmful to health. In addition, the fear, frustration or anger that may be produced by an unhappy relationship with a manager, colleague or client or by being in an unsuitable job can result in long-term or chronic stress. Lives outside work can lead to stress or they can compound pressure at work and result in stress. It can be difficult to identify staff who are under stress, particularly when you might not be aware of the issues an employee maybe facing outside of the workplace.
The signs of stress:
Positive mental health is rarely an absolute state. One may feel in good mental health generally but also suffer stress or anxiety from time to time. The following list, though not exhaustive, provides useful indicators that all is not well with an employee; and a prompt to take notice and take action.
Changes in work performance and productivity levels Declining or inconsistent performance Loss of control over work Loss of motivation or commitment Indecision Lapses in memory Increased time spent at work Lack of holiday planning/usage Crying Arguments Undue sensitivity Irritability/moodiness Over-reaction to problems Personality clashes Sulking Immature behavior Withdrawal Defensiveness Arriving late to work Leaving early Extended lunches Absenteeism Resigned attitude Reduced social contact Elusiveness/evasiveness Aggressive behavior Malicious gossip Criticism of others Shouting Bullying or harassment Poor colleague/employee relations Temper outbursts Vandalism
An employer who takes effective action to manage the effects of stress on their employees will get the best from those employees. Employers not doing so run an increased risk of work stress-related claims. You should consider, and be seen to consider:
Carrying out a stress audit. Ask employees to list their concerns in respect of stress. Do this as a matter of course in all appraisals to pre-empt stress issues.
Using return to work interviews after sickness absence, even for absences over short periods. Using performance appraisals and employee surveys to identify any underlying stress-related reason for absence or poor performance. Training managers to recognise situations likely to cause stress and to identify the symptoms of stress and how to manage stress.
Designing a stress policy. The policy should make it clear that this is an issue that the employer takes seriously and give employees guidance as to how to deal with the effects of stress, and how to raise these concerns within the workplace.
Consulting employees, employee representatives or unions on organisational changes. Avoiding placing unreasonable demands on employees by prioritising workloads and appropriate delegation of duties. Providing adequate training. Providing support through the employee assistance programme or occupational health service and/or providing independent confidential counselling.
Anti-stress policies
A stress policy is a statement explaining not only an employer’s attitude to stress (whether resulting from acts inside or outside the workplace) but also setting out the action you as an employer are taking to protect the mental well-being of your staff, to prevent stress and mental health problems at work and explain how the company will deal with the problems that may arise. An effective anti-stress policy should provide:
Advice on the measures the company takes to monitor and, where necessary, eradicate the effects of stress at work. This may take the form of: including stress in risk assessments and explaining the role and expectations of managers and supervisors. For a policy to be effective, managers need to be trained to assess and manage the risks of stress on an ongoing basis. Employers need to be clear about what they require managers to do and how they will be enabled to do it.
Clear and open channels of communication and effective methods of investigating reported workplace incidents or behaviour giving rise to stress.
Internal and external sources of support for employees suffering from stress. Internally, these may include provision of training and workshops on work/life balance and the avoidance of stress, facilitating mutual support groups (encouraging staff to informally support each other) as well as providing support for managers through human resources. Externally, employers may instruct medical specialists and provide employee assistance programmes (EAPs), telephone helplines and advice clinics.
Reasonable adjustments to job roles and/or working conditions to accommodate disabled employees or reduce causes of stress, where possible and necessary.
An anti-stress policy alone is not enough
A stress policy can only be part of an approach to dealing with workplace stress. You need to demonstrate the company has put time, thought and resources behind it and it is followed:
Are commitments reflected in practice?
Is there an anti-bullying and harassment policy, disciplinary policy, capability procedure and flexible working policy?
Are they followed?
Do you have risk assessments and do they address workplace stress issues?
Do you apply an effective appraisal and staff development procedure?
Do you have an occupational health service and/or any other forms of support available to staff?
Do you provide training for all staff and particularly for those managers who might be called on to deal with stressed staff on identifying the signs and dealing with cases of stress?
Stress risk assessments
The HSE recommends a 5-step approach to risk assessments for work-related stress:
Identify the hazards. The 6 risk factors for stress identified by the HSE are: demands, control, relationships, change, role and support.Managers can identify the hazards in a number of ways, such as informal talks with staff, performance appraisals, focus groups, return to work interviews following sickness absence, collecting and monitoring sickness absence data, performance data, turnover rates and questionnaires.
Decide who may be harmed and how. Any member of the workforce can be affected by stress; especially those exposed to the six factors in Step 1, or those who are particularly vulnerable due to, for example, illness or bereavement.
Evaluate the risk and take action. This is identified by the HSE as the most important step in tackling stress and involves the actions listed below.
Record your findings. Record the findings of the assessment and incorporate them into an action plan which sets goals to work towards, and priorities, which can be used as a benchmark against which progress can be measured.
Monitor and review the assessment at appropriate intervals. It may be appropriate to review the assessment after a major change such as a restructuring exercise, or periodically to ensure there are no changes of note to the initial assessment.
Evaluating Risks and Taking Action. HSE advises: Gathering data from a number of sources (e.g from questionnaires and focus groups, from existing information structures such as appraisals). Linking problems to solutions – once information has been obtained, the next step is to talk to employees to confirm the nature of the problems and develop ideas for solutions. Communicating the results and providing feedback to the workforce. Where the process has identified individuals with particular concerns, the business needs to develop ways for these individuals to raise their concerns, eg employee assistance programmes and counselling services. HSE recommendations 5 step approach to risk assessment
When can employees bring stress claims
In addition to the statutory duties under health and safety legislation, employers are legally obliged to take reasonable care for the health and safety of employees in the workplace. To succeed in their claim, an employee will have to show that:
An employer has breached the duty of care that they owe to the employee.
This has caused the employee injury.
An injury of that type, as a result of the breach, was reasonably foreseeable.
In the employment context, stress claims will generally arise in scenarios where either there was bullying at work or else there was an excessive workload. Employers should note that they may be held liable for bullying or harassment by their staff. Stress claims may arise from discrimination issues too.
Common issues in stress claims
Most stress cases turn on whether the type of injury sustained by the employee (i.e. psychiatric injury) was reasonably foreseeable by the employer but the claimant must establish causation, i.e. a causal link between the workplace stress and the injury he or she is alledging. Then looking at foreseeability, it is likely to be easier to demonstrate that psychiatric damage resulted from bullying by a particular individual, than it is to demonstrate that damage resulted from an amalgamation of excessive work pressures. However, psychiatric injury may well be foreseeable in cases involving excessive workload where the employer was put on notice that the employee was struggling to cope or was particularly vulnerable. This may happen when the employee has specifically told the employer, and would be particularly relevant where the employee has had a period of stress related sickness absence before.
The guidelines
Guidelines were given by the Court of Appeal in 2002 which are considered by the courts as useful practical guidance and so, even though they do not have any statutory force, they are worth following. No occupation is to be regarded as intrinsically more dangerous than another to an individual’s mental health.
One of the crucial questions is whether this kind of harm (stress related injury) was reasonably foreseeable in the individual. What must be considered is the characteristics particular to the employee, not an objective standard of the employee of “reasonable fortitude”, and the particular demands placed on them by the employer.
Several factors are likely to be relevant in relation to foreseeability: Is there an abnormal level of sickness absence within a department or job type? Have several employees doing the same job experienced unacceptable levels of stress? Watch out for high performers who, by definition, appear to cope with more than average workloads. Warning signs from employees will play a fundamental role in establishing liability because once the employer is on notice of the adverse effects of stress, the consequences are more foreseeable. It is therefore essential that employers document complaints and actively consider whether remedial action is necessary.
Employers will need to be vigilant, looking for the tell-tale signs, although unless they are aware of any particular vulnerability, are entitled to assume that an employee can cope with the “normal pressures” of the job. Whilst vigilance is important, employers are not expected to be clairvoyants. They are entitled to take employees’ actions at face value. For example, an employee returning to work after a period of sickness absence, without any further explanation, is usually indicating that he is fit to resume work.
Once on notice of a potential stress-related illness, the employer needs to take remedial steps. A balancing act is involved: The size of the employer operation, its resources and the demands it faces are relevant in deciding what is reasonable. The interests of other employees and the need to treat them fairly, for example, in any redistribution of duties is also relevant. Neither are employers expected to take steps that are unlikely to do any good. So, according to the court, if the only effective way of safeguarding the employee may be to dismiss or demote them, then the employer will not be in breach of its duty in preventing a willing employee from continuing in their job.
Interestingly, the court said that an employer which offers confidential help (for example in the form of counselling) to employees suffering stress is unlikely to be found in breach of its duty. However it is difficult to see how this step alone will exonerate an employer placing unrealistic demands on a vulnerable employee.
Counselling services may be important but not decisive
Offering counselling or occupational health services or other steps would not give rise to the automatic conclusion that you had foreseen a risk of psychiatric injury due to stress at work to any individual or class of employee. The availability of a counselling or other service may mean that you would be unlikely to be found to be in breach of your duties towards employees, even if harm was foreseeable, but this does not make such services a panacea by which you could discharge your duty of care in all cases.
If an occupational health provider or other medical specialist consulted recommends that an employee is given further assessment or a more specialised medical examination, then an employer may be found to have failed in its duty of care if those recommendations are not acted upon.
Stress during disciplinary proceedings
A common problem for employers is that of the employee who, on being told to attend a disciplinary hearing, absents themselves by reason of ill health, frequently citing stress as the cause. You are then caught in the middle: on the one hand there is a need to ensure that matters are dealt with speedily, on the other hand, the employee may genuinely not be well enough to attend a hearing. One issue that should be considered at this stage is: could stress, anxiety or depression actually have caused or contributed to the misconduct? This may be even more likely where it is capability rather than misconduct which is the subject matter of the hearing. If this seems a possibility, employers may consider dropping or at least suspending any disciplinary proceedings. If the employee is still absent after a period of time you may, subject to the employee’s consent, obtain medical advice as to whether the employee is fit to attend a disciplinary hearing and, if not, when they are likely to be. This may be obtained from either the employee’s own GP or an independent doctor such as an occupational health physician (OHP). It should be noted that sick employees who refuse time and time again to provide necessary consent can be fairly dismissed. Employees often expect that by getting themselves signed off with stress they can avoid disciplinary proceedings.
Getting things moving in stress during disciplinary proceedings
Things may quickly reach the point at which no further delay is feasible, bearing in mind that the ill employee may not be the only individual with an interest in the matter being resolved, and that the memories of witnesses may fade with time. In these situations, you must make a decision. In a minor case, you may decide simply to let matters drop in the interests of getting the employee back to work. However, if the matter is more serious, you may simply have to find alternative means of proceeding. Consider alternative ways of conducting the disciplinary hearing, such as by telephone, Skype call, at a neutral place or location nearer the employee’s home address, or even inviting the employee to submit written submissions and holding a hearing in their absence. They would still have the right to appeal the decision and a full rehearing could be held at that stage if requested and appropriate.
Zero-hours contracts, get a fixed price review from The Legal Partners
We have created a Fixed Price Review of your zero-hours contracts to help businesses be prepared for these changes, minimise the administrative workload that comes with them and avoid the PR, discrimination and legal risks that threaten to arise. Our £950+vat fixed price review will assess the current zero-hours contracts your business uses and ensure you and your teams are prepared and covered for the news laws, in whatever form they take, when they arrive .
What are zero-hours contracts?
Courtesy of BBC article news/business-27219654
A zero-hours contract is one used for casual working. The employer does not guarantee to provide the casual worker with any work and pays the worker only for work actually carried out. The worker is expected to be available for work when or if called on by the employer. For more detail, this article is an employers guide to zero-contract hours. https://www.thelegalpartners.com/zero-hours-contracts-guide-employers/
What industries most use zero-hours contracts?
From companies Sports Direct, JD Wetherspoons to Councils and Universities; in fact 50% of all big companies in the UK use 1.4million zero-hours contracts, according to a recent survey from the ONS. Usage of zero-hours contracts varies dramatically across sectors. The same study found that 20% of health and social workers are on these contracts, but that they were rare amongst workers in the financial sector. Here is a breakdown by Industry sector:
Ban on Exclusivity in zero-hours contracts.
The Government, Opposition and Trade Unions have all proposed changes to the zero-hours contracts. The Government has already consulted with employer and employee trade bodies and unions. Given the support of an overwhelming majority of respondents (83%), the Government has decided to ban exclusivity clauses in contracts which do not guarantee hours of work. The government expects the ban to benefit 125,000 zero hours contract workers estimated to be tied to an exclusivity clause.
What does “Exclusivity” in Zero-Hours contracts mean?
An exclusivity clause in a zero hours contract means that the employer can prevent the individual from working for someone else, even though the employer does not guarantee a number of hours of work. Currently employers can require an employee to work for them exclusively on this basis. When will “Exclusivity” clauses in Zero-Hours contracts be banned? The ban under new employment law is likely to come into force later this year, but it’s unlikely to be before 6 November 2014.
What should the busy HR Director do?
Review current zero-hour contracts and analyse how many workers are affected and what are the rights and obligations in those contracts. Please note – the review may show that zero-hours contracts are no longer suitable or a more standard employment contract with minimum fixed hours may be better.
Write to all affected employees outlining the proposed changes to their contract.
Send the amended contract
Ask them to sign and date the amended contract and return it to HR Department.
Ensure the signed contract is added to the relevant employee’s HR file.
Agree extra administration budget for these changes. We can help you budget for and implement these changes cost effectively.
This could also be a good opportunity to review the current zero-hours contract for:
any other operational changes required by the business
updating the contracts for law changes e.g hourly salary increases so the contract is kept up to date
changing the zero-hours contract to a more standard employment contract with minimum fixed hours.
Making the changes can also show the zero-hours workers that the employer is looking to engage with them by changing their contracts pro-actively as the law in this area changes. Be careful when changing zero-hours contracts without a full review of the worker’s legal status. This is because if the worker is in fact an employee, he/she will have the right to a minimum amount of notice before the contract can be changed eg 4 weeks notice after 4 years + of service. He/she will also have unfair dismissal protection after 2 + years of service and the right to a statutory redundancy payment, proper consultation and alternative employment if he/she has been employed for 2+ years. As always workers and employees may bring discrimination claims if they feel there are grounds to slow down any contract change process.
What are the risks if an employer does not make the change?
At the least it will be embarrassing for a business to have overlooked such a well publicised law change. Employee’s know their rights and will bring grievances and, if they are unresolved, claims at Employment Tribunals wasting management time and incurring legal costs for the employer. These risks can quickly become PR and reputation problems if an employee, or many employees then publicise on social media that their employer is not complying with employment law , or the union become involved. Be prepared for further changes in the zero-hours contract law
What are the new law changes?
The Government has announced plans to develop sector-specific codes of practice on the fair use of zero-hours contracts. This is expected to include guidance on recommended best practice for providing and cancelling work and how to calculate accrued workers benefits under zero-hours contracts.
What are the proposed codes of practice for zero-hours contracts?
The Government has also announced that business representatives and unions should work together to develop sector-specific codes of practice to help guide the fair use of zero-hours contracts. However, it is not clear how and when these codes of practices will be developed. The codes are expected to cover: When zero-hours contracts should be used and how to identify them to job applicants and workers. Rights and responsibilities of the individual and the employer. This will include how to calculate accrued benefits such as annual leave. Allocating work and notice of hours of work or cancellation of work. ACAS https://www.acas.org.uk/zerohours has stated that it is keen to engage with the government on how best to provide additional support in this area. This is a hot topic for UK businesses and will continue to be so into next year. If you are using or are considering using Zero-Hours contracts going-forward, contact me at Richard.Mullett@thelegalpartners.com to ensure that your company is fully protected from the legal, discrimination and PR risks involved. Our £950 +VAT fixed price review will make a big difference to minimising your company’s legal and PR risks.
A zero-hours contract is one used for casual working, under which the employer does not guarantee to provide the worker with any work and pays the worker only for work actually carried out. The worker is expected to be available for work when or if called on by the employer. Zero hours contracts are not illegal. If they are freely entered into, a zero-hours contract is a legitimate form of contract between individual and employer. Zero-hours contracts can be used by employers to provide a flexible workforce to meet a temporary or changeable need for Staff. Examples include a need for workers to cover: – unexpected or last-minute events (e.g a restaurant needs extra staff to cater for a wedding party that had their original venue cancel on them at the last minute) – temporary staff shortages (e.g an office loses an essential specialist worker for a few weeks due to bereavement) – on-call/bank work (e.g one of the clients of a care-worker company requires extra care for a short period of time)
What does “Exclusivity” in Zero-Hours contracts mean?
An exclusivity clause in a zero hours contract means that the employer can prevent the individual from working for someone else, even though the employer does not guarantee a number of hours of work.
Are Exclusivity clauses in Zero Hours Contracts legal?
No, Exclusivity clauses in Zero-hours contracts are no longer legal.
Exclusivity terms in zero-hours contracts were banned on 14 December 2015 and these new regulations came into force on 11 January 2016.
Employees bringing an unfair dismissal on these grounds will not need to show they have the two year qualifying period of employment.
According to the most recent research and stats from the Office of National Statistics, there are certain industry sectors where Zero-Hours contracts are particularly common, the breakdown looks like this:
How exclusivity clauses in Zero hours contracts came to be banned, the background.
On 25 June 2014, the government published its response to the consultation on zero -hours contracts. Given the support of an overwhelming majority of respondents (83%), the government decided to ban exclusivity clauses in contracts which do not guarantee hours of work. The government expects the ban to benefit 125,000 zero hours contract workers estimated to be tied to an exclusivity clause. As already stated, the new regulations banning exclusivity terms in zero hours contracts came into force in January 2016. Remember, Zero-hours contracts in themselves are not illegal.
Proposed codes of practice for zero-hours contracts
The government has also announced that business representatives and unions should work together to develop sector-specific codes of practice to help guide the fair use of zero hours contracts. However, it is not clear how and when these codes of practices will be developed. The codes are expected to cover:
When zero hours contracts should be used and how to identify them to job applicants and workers.
Rights and responsibilities of the individual and the employer. This will include how to calculate accrued benefits such as annual leave.
Allocating work and notice of hours of work or cancellation of work.
Acas has stated that it is keen to engage with the government on how best to provide additional support in this area. This is a hot topic for UK businesses and will continue to be so into next year. If you are using or are considering using Zero-Hours contracts going-forward, contact me at Abigail.Oprey@thelegalpartners.com to ensure that your company is fully protected from the legal, discrimination and PR risks involved.
A 60 second summary of the new flexible working laws, in pictures. Employers and HR Directors can be resourced with the essential knowledge you need to know when planning Flexible Working Policies and responding to Flexible Working requests. View the slideshare below
From 6 April 2014 onwards, a new system of Early Conciliation (EC) requires employees to take some compulsory steps before they can make a claim against an employer. It is mandatory in almost every case (there are a few very limited exceptions). The Early Conciliation system requires employees who believe they have an Employment Tribunal (ET) case to inform Acas before their case can proceed through an ET. The new system should not deter employers from attempting to resolve issues informally or through mediation.
The Early Conciliation system requires employees who believe they have an Employment Tribunal (ET) case to inform Acas before their case can proceed through an ET.
Early Conciliation, the new procedure in employment disputes.
This is how it works. An employee will be required to notify Acas before issuing a claim. Step 1: The employee must send “prescribed information” in the “prescribed manner” to Acas. Read here Acas’ explanation of the process https://www.acas.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=4028, and their flowchart for employees considering a claim. To quote Acas web site ” The quickest and simplest way to notify Acas [before issuing a claim] is online using the form on our website. If you cannot access the internet, contact Acas’ Early Conciliation support on 0300 123 11 22.” Step 2: After an Acas “early conciliation support officer” has made initial contact with the employee and confirmed that they wish to proceed, the employee’s information is sent on to a conciliation officer. Step 3: The conciliation officer then tries to promote a settlement within a “prescribed period”, using a bit of shuttle diplomacy between the employer and employee. Step 4: If no settlement is reached, either because the conciliation officer thinks that settlement is not possible, or because the prescribed period expires, the conciliation officer issues a certificate saying this. The employee will be unable to pursue most tribunal claims without this certificate. Why? Because the certificate carries a number which the employee needs in order to register his/her ET claim. Limitation periods will be extended to take account of the “prescribed period”. When the employee notifies Acas this will “stop-the-clock” for 1 calendar month on the 3 month ET claim limitation period. If necessary, the employee or employer should check with their legal services insurance provider before contacting Acas. Whilst notifying Acas before pursuing a claim is compulsory, whether making or responding to a claim, it is worth speaking to an insurer first to be absolutely sure there can be no question of having acted in a way that invalidates the policy.
Can an employer request Early Conciliation?
Employers responding to a claim will have the opportunity to request Early Conciliation if they consider that the issue that might lead to tribunal proceedings if it is not settled. The employer will need to contact Acas with the details of the employee making a claim. A “respondent EC” request form will be made available for the employer to complete and submit online. Where Early Conciliation is requested by the employer:
There will be no “stop-the-clock” process for the usual 3 month limitation period after leaving employment when an employee can make a claim
There will be no specified time period in which Early Conciliation must take place.
If , having contacted Acas, the employee declines the offer of conciliation, or if conciliation is unsuccessful, the conciliation officer will issue an EC certificate confirming that the employees obligation to contact Acas has been satisfied. This will make it clear to the tribunal that there is no suspension of the usual 3 month limitation period and the employee can to lodge the claim However, if the employee does then send an early conciliation form to Acas about the same dispute, this will trigger the “stop-the-clock” provisions, and Acas will manage the process as for any other claimant making contact with them.
Here are the steps fro the new process Step 1: employee sends completed EC form to Acas The employee provides the following information on the EC form:
Employees Name, Address, Contact numbers (telephone and mobile) and e-mail address.
Employer’s name, address and telephone number.
Employees will not have to provide any information on the nature of their claim(s) on the EC form The Employee must send the completed EC form to Acas by either:
Submitting the online version on the Acas website, or
Posting a hard copy to the address on the EC form.
Step 2: Early Conciliation Support Officer (ECSO) then contacts the employee
Acas will make reasonable attempts to contact the employee and, with the employee’s express consent, then try to contact their employer.
If Acas is unable to contact either the employee or the employer its conclude that settlement is not possible.
In practice, an employee’s completed EC form will be passed to an ECSO who will try to make telephone contact with the employee. The purpose of this will be to enable the ECSO to:
Check the details supplied by the employee, obtain basic information such as the length of employment, the date of dismissal or incident complained of, the best time and means for further contact and whether the employer is still trading.
Outline the conciliation process and to check whether the employee requires any reasonable adjustments (for example, provision of an interpreter).
Explain and discuss any misunderstandings surrounding the prospective claim (for example, qualifying periods).
The ECSO will make an initial call to the employee by close of business on the day following receipt of the EC form. If the employee wishes to proceed the ECSO will pass the case to the conciliator. It is accepted that some employees will be difficult to contact. What amounts to “reasonable attempts” to contact the employee is to be left to Acas discretion, rather than specifying a maximum number of attempts and/or a specified period of time for the ECSO to attempt to contact the employee. Where the ECSO is unable to contact the employee, or the employee indicates that they do not wish to proceed with conciliation, the case will be closed and a certificate confirming that the employee has complied with their obligation to contact Acas will be issued. The employee will then be able to present a claim to the tribunal. Step 3: the conciliation officer attempts to broker a settlement between employee and employer The conciliator contacts the employee Where the employee wishes to conciliate, the ECSO will pass the file to a conciliator who will then contact the employee and formally establish whether the employee wishes to attempt to settle the dispute. Where the employee has a legal representative, the conciliator will liaise with them rather than directly with the employee. The conciliator then contacts the employee The conciliator will make reasonable attempts to contact the employer to see if they are willing to participate in conciliation. If they are unable to make contact an EC certificate will be issued. If the conciliator makes contact with the employer but they decline EC, the conciliator will notify the employee and issue an EC certificate. Where both parties wish to conciliate: conciliation period Where both parties have agreed to participate in the conciliation process, the conciliator will have one calendar month from the date of receipt by Acas of the employee’s completed EC form to promote a settlement between them. The conciliation period may be extended by Acas for up to two weeks where the conciliator considers that there is a reasonable prospect of achieving a settlement by the end of the extended period and both parties agree to the extension.
Pre-claim conciliation: potential outcomes in unfair dismissal claims
In the case of a former employee bringing a claim for unfair dismissal there is specific provision for a conciliation officer to be able to promote reinstatement or re-engagement of the employee “on terms appearing to the conciliation officer to be equitable” with either the employer (or a successor or associated employer) as a means of settlement. The conciliation officer can promote settlement by way of compensation only where either:
The former employee does not wish to be reinstated or re-engaged.
These forms of settlement are not practicable.
Step 4: dealing with the outcome of conciliation
What happens when Early Conciliation fails?
If at any point during the EC period, or during any extension of that period, the conciliation officer concludes that settlement is not possible, Acas will issue an EC certificate.
If the EC period, including any extension of that period, expires without settlement having been reached, Acas will issue an EC certificate.
Where the parties reach a settlement Where the parties agree to settle, Acas will draw up an agreement recording the settlement and may issue an EC certificate. The reasoning for an EC certificate to be issued where settlement had been reached is two-fold:
If only some of the matters in dispute are settled, the employee will need an EC certificate to be able to bring a tribunal claim for the issues that remain in dispute.
If the settlement “fails” (presumably this means that the settlement is not concluded), the employee will be able to satisfy the tribunal that they had complied with their obligation to contact Acas.
There is no specific provision for what will happen in the event that the parties reach a settlement. This perhaps reflects that the conciliation officer will need to take a view on a case-by-case basis whether it is necessary to issue an EC certificate. For example, it may be apparent that the employee has settled a claim for outstanding wages on the termination of their employment but that the question of whether their dismissal was fair remains unresolved. The employee will still need the reference number from the certificate to commence their unfair dismissal claim despite having settled one aspect of their complaint. Early conciliation certificate When an EC certificate will be issued Once a prospective claimant has submitted a completed EC form, the following are the points in the EC process which will trigger the issue of an EC certificate:
The ECSO is unable to contact the employee.
The employee tells the ECSO that they are unwilling to conciliate.
The conciliator is unable to contact the employer.
The employer tells the conciliator that they are unwilling to conciliate.
The parties agree to conciliate but during the conciliation period either party withdraws from the process.
At any point during a conciliation period (and any extension) where the conciliator considers that there is no reasonable prospect of achieving a settlement.
The conciliation period (as extended, if applicable) expires without a settlement having been reached.
The position when the parties reach a settlement is unclear. Presumably where a COT3 has settled all claims an EC certificate will not be issued (to avoid misleading employees into believing that they can issue proceedings). However, it appears reasonable to assume that Acas will issue an EC Certificate where a COT3 settles only part of a dispute. In such cases the employee will be able to bring a claim regarding unresolved issues where they choose to do so.
Information in the EC certificate An EC certificate will contain:
The employee’s name and address.
The employee’s name and address.
The date on which Acas received the EC form or was telephoned by the employee.
The unique reference number given by Acas to the EC form.
The date of issue of the EC certificate, which will be the date on which Acas sends the certificate, and a statement indicating the method by which the certificate is being sent.
Who the certificate will be sent to Acas will send a copy of the EC certificate to the employee and, if Acas has had contact with the employer during the EC period, to the employer. How the certificate will be sent Acas will send the EC certificate by email and, where this is not possible, by post. The certificate will be deemed to be received:
If it is sent by email, on the day it is sent.
If it is sent by post, on the day on which it would be delivered in the ordinary course of the post.
The remainder of the employee’s limitation period will start running on the day following receipt of the certificate. Bringing a tribunal claim The ET rules will be amended so that employees will be required to include evidence, in the form of the unique EC reference number given to them by Acas, on their ET1 form to demonstrate that they have satisfied the EC requirement. Where the EC requirement applies and the employee fails to include the EC reference number on their ET1 form, the tribunal will reject their claim. For more information about Acas please see their website www.acas.org.uk and if you would like any further information about this article please contact Abigail.
Are you concerned about your liability as an employer when your team use social media and email at work? This guide highlights the risks of employer liability when your employees are using social media or sending e-mails and gives some practical suggestions of how to minimise those risks. The huge growth in popularity of social media in recent years has created challenges as well as opportunities for every business. Blogs and similar media present a unique opportunity to get a positive image of a business into the public domain as well as providing an efficient way of sharing information, knowledge and best practice with others. The other side of the coin is that legal liabilities can arise from the use of social media by employees (whether for business or private purposes). It is increasingly important for businesses to know how this can happen and how to prevent problems from developing.
Risk to reputation when employees use Social Media
Information that is written on the internet or in e-mails can seriously damage your business’ reputation and the reputation of individual employees. Your employees could lose their job, be sued or face criminal charges and your business could be sued or fined.
Stop and think before you click
Writing something on the internet or in an e-mail is exactly the same as writing on paper and, because of the lack of control of who might ultimately see it, sometimes worse. Your business cannot control what the recipient does with an e-mail.
Inappropriate information that is written online or in an e-mail can have severe financial repercussions for your business. It can also create serious personal and disciplinary issues for individual employees.
Even if your employees are e-mailing or using social media in their own time, they could still get themselves and your business in serious trouble.
A classic example of a Facebook post causing employer headaches
Take the recent case of an employee, Mr Teggart, who posted an obscene comment about the promiscuity of a female colleague on his Facebook page while at home. Although the colleague was not Mr Teggart’s ‘friend’ on Facebook, the company was mentioned in the post and other employers were ‘friends’ with him. A disciplinary hearing took place to discuss Mr Teggart’s alleged gross misconduct for harassment of a fellow employee and for bringing the company into disrepute. The charge of gross misconduct was sustained and Mr Teggart was dismissed. Mr Teggart appealed and he argued that he had intended the comments to be a joke; he regularly mocked people on his Facebook postings! He had not intended to harass anyone. His appeal was dismissed and the finding of gross misconduct was upheld. Mr Teggart complained to the Northern Ireland industrial tribunal that he had been unfairly dismissed and his rights under Articles 8, 9 and 10 of the ECHR had been violated. His appeal was dismissed. The decision highlights the fact that inappropriate or offensive comments using social media may justify dismissal for gross misconduct even when they are made out of work and in the employee’s own time. Whatsmore, it seems clear that employees will struggle to establish that they have a reasonable expectation of privacy in relation to comments made on Facebook. Although an individual’s Facebook page is only open to “friends”, it is not private as comments can be copied and passed on to others. If you want to know what Mr Teggart actually posted, a full transcript of the case can be found here Teggart v TeleTech UK Ltd [2012] NIIT 00704_11IT (15 March 2012)
Social media and e-mail can be very useful tools for business but it is important to consider the risks attached to their use to ensure that they are beneficial for your business and not harmful to it or your employees.
E-mails and internet postings can be used in legal proceedings
E-mails and internet postings can be used against your business in legal proceedings or other regulatory investigations and you may have a legal obligation to disclose them to the other party, even if it is not aware of them.
Your business should never delete e-mails relating to:
a legal dispute;
an investigation; or
a potential dispute or investigation.
This can be a complicated area and the duty to disclose information includes disclosure of any that could be harmful to your business in the course of legal proceedings. You may need to take advice should you find yourself and your business in this position.
It is very difficult to delete e-mails and online postings
Simply deleting e-mails or internet postings will not necessarily solve the problem. Forensic IT equipment can still find supposedly “deleted” messages.
Do not be hurtful or spread rumours
Online content or e-mails that could be thought of as obscene, racist, sexist, bullying or hurtful should never be posted or sent. Your business can be held liable for discriminatory acts committed by your employees.
If a comment is made about another employee online or in an e-mail that amounts to harassment, your business could be liable even if the employee was using their own equipment when they made the comment.
Exaggerating or making false or inaccurate statements about another company or person online or in an e-mail could lead to your business being sued, even if the e-mail was only sent to one person.
Take care with confidential information
Where possible, avoid sending confidential information by e-mail. Your business should take legal advice on how the information can be best protected.
Any e-mail containing confidential information should be clearly marked as “confidential”.
If your business receives an e-mail that contains “dangerous” material (for example, another company’s trade secrets), you should take legal advice immediately.
Do not make a contract by mistake
A legally binding contract can be made by a simple exchange of e-mails.
Your business should make it clear if it does not intend to be bound by what is communicated in an e-mail.
Do not copy someone else’s work
Other people’s work should not be used in e-mails or online posts unless:
your business has permission from the original author; or
you know that it is not protected by copyright.
Do not send or view offensive or unknown material
Encourage your employees to carefully monitor what arrives in their inbox, especially if they do not recognise the sender or the title of the e-mail seems peculiar.
If there is a risk that an e-mail may contain a virus, it should not be opened and your IT department should be contacted immediately.
Make your employees aware that they could be disciplined or even dismissed for forwarding inappropriate e-mails or accessing inappropriate websites at work. In severe cases it could also be a criminal offence.
Avoid unproductive usage
Most businesses allow light personal internet and e-mail usage as long as it does not interfere with their employees’ duties. However, you should make sure your employees are aware that excessive, unproductive use of the internet and e-mails at work may be treated as gross misconduct for which they could be dismissed.
E-mails can often be a waste of time. Encourage your employees to think carefully before copying someone in on an e-mail, especially if there is a long chain of e-mails attached.
If you have a problem with a member of staff sending material that is inappropriate or offensive, or posting information on social media which is inappropriate, remember to get a printed copy as you may need this as evidence within any disciplinary procedure. You may need to do this very quickly as social media sites can be efficient in removing inappropriate comments and, whilst this quick action by them is positive in many ways, it can destroy the evidence that you as a business need.
Also keep in mind that just because a problem has arisen on social media, you as the employer do not need to respond in ‘social media’ time. Take time to reflect on the best course of action and to ensure you follow a proper procedure rather than reacting immediately and incorrectly. Take advice from The Legal Partners.
It is important to consider having a specific policy within your business dealing with the use of social media and e-mail. Case law has established the businesses are in a much better position in disciplining staff for inappropriate use when they have clearly informed staff of what is and is not acceptable. The Legal Partners can help with this and have a Social Networking and Smartphone Policy available. Please contact us for further information. In summary: avoiding employer liability when employees use social media and email Do:
Adopt a social media policy to encourage appropriate employee use of social media.
Use the policy to prohibit employees using social media in ways that could damage the company.
Provide training to employees on the appropriate use of social media, and monitor for compliance.
Do not:
Allow employees to disclose or misuse confidential or proprietary information.
Permit employees to use social media to harass colleagues.
Impose unnecessary restrictions on employee use of social media.
We hope this article has been useful. Please contact us if we can help further:
Estimated reading time: 18 minutes 2024 is an exceptionally busy year for employment legislation. Most of the major new laws came into force in April this year. These employment law updates will bring you up to speed on the important new laws, their implications and the actions to take. The table of contents above lists the headline changes. The two main themes are increasing workers' rights and provisions for working parents. The Government has announced the annual increases to statutory payments and to employment tribunal awards from April 2024. Keep an essential reminder of these at your fingertips by downloading our concise one page Employment Law Factsheet, which includes helpful explainer notes, here: annual-increases-to-statutory-payments-tribunal-award-payments-From-April-2024-25-_The-Legal-Partners-Employment-Law-Factsheet-1 Statutory payments of course include sick...>>
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Here are the most common legal terms we include in export contracts to protect UK exporters and questions The Legal Partners team are asked.1 Find out who is the customer in the export contract?It may seem obvious but from the outset of negotiations it is important to know whether the UK exporter is dealing with the direct end customer or via an agent or distributor in the country where the goods are to be sold.2 Is the UK exporter or the Asian importer insuring the goods? The export contract will need to state clearly who is insuring the goods and from what point in the export process. Any specified Incoterm incorporated into the export contract may need to be amended for the...>>
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Workplace Mediation has long been gathering momentum, becoming increasingly popular amongst UK companies who now use it as an effective way to resolve disputes at work. Mediation can provide solutions which meet the needs of all parties; its cost effective, fast (90% are resolved within one day), avoids disruption, removes the debilitating effects of unresolved conflict and can pave the way for restored workplace relationships. The Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution (CEDR) published their latest Mediation Audit in May 2021. This 2 yearly survey of UK commercial lawyers and mediators, assesses the case numbers, take up of mediation and attitudes towards it. Up until September 2020, the number of mediations carried out in England and wales increased by 38% (to 16,500 mediations in the 2020 report,...>>
The Consumer Rights Act (CRA) 2015 fundamentally increased all obligations and liabilities a business has towards its consumer customers. Most notably the CRA 2015 gave consumers the right to a 30 day refund on purchases. The new laws came into force on 1 October 2015. If your business deals with consumers or sells goods, services or digital content online, and if you haven't already done so, its absolutely time to review and update your customer contracts, Terms and Conditions etc, to comply with these new laws.This article explains what every business needs to know about the Consumer Rights Act 2015 and how to comply. To shortcut the whole process, we have also created a Consumer Rights Act Toolkit for Business, so you can easily comply with these new laws,...>>
Our Social Media Legal Toolkit is a simple way to ensure you avoid social media liability and keep your business out of trouble,to preventing any litigation from social media misuse by employees. It includes:Social Media Policy+IT & Systems usage Policy +1 hour of our advice or training with your staff to clearly spell out what they must, must not do, something Apple Retail UK and Wetherspoons undertook wisely to their huge advantage when it came to the crunch. For what happened and to find out practical steps you can take to avoid Social Media liability, read our article: For a fixed price of £950 + plus VAT you are ready to protect your business immediately.To purchase your toolkit, email or call us directly, our details are below.>>
Exposure through Social Media is rapidly becoming part and parcel of an organisation’s day to day operation. Even if your business isn't actively on Social Media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook or messaging Apps such as WeChat or WhatsApp, your employees most likely will be.Most employers get into trouble over, or on social media because they haven’t put policies in place and they haven't set expectations with staff of what is good and bad behavior online.Below we've put together a 5 point summary of the risks involved and the steps you need to take to avoid Social Media misuse and protect your business from liability.It provides an overview of the law in this area. Please talk to us for a complete understanding of how it may...>>
With new shared parental leave laws in place, it’s a good time to think about how to handle multiple requests for shared parental leave from male and female members of your workforce. Employees can make request for shared parental leave from February 2015 for all birth due dates/matching dates (for adoption) from April 2105 onwards.Watch this slideshare for the changes to maternity and paternity leave entitlements and a quick, visual overview of the key points to remember. Shared parental leave 2015 guidance for parents and employers from The Legal Partners If you haven't already done so, now is the time to create a Shared Parental Leave policy to include in your Employee Staff Handbook. With this in mind we have developed a Shared Parental Leave...>>
This is a detailed guide to managing employee stress at work for HR professionals, Employers and Line Managers.It covers the law relating to stress that you need to know and practical tips on how you and your company can manage employee stress, minimizing it's effect on the business, being protected from claims, and ensuring you take the appropriate steps to help your employee. What is stress? The Health & Safety Executive (HSE) defines stress as the "adverse reaction people have to excessive pressures or other types of demand placed on them". There is sometimes confusion between pressure and stress. It is healthy for staff to have challenges to meet; too much pressure however, can be harmful to health. In addition,...>>
Zero-hours contracts, get a fixed price review from The Legal Partners We have created a Fixed Price Review of your zero-hours contracts to help businesses be prepared for these changes, minimise the administrative workload that comes with them and avoid the PR, discrimination and legal risks that threaten to arise.Our £950+vat fixed price review will assess the current zero-hours contracts your business uses and ensure you and your teams are prepared and covered for the news laws, in whatever form they take, when they arrive . What are zero-hours contracts? Courtesy of BBC article news/business-27219654 A zero-hours contract is one used for casual working. The employer does not guarantee to provide the casual worker with any work and pays the worker...>>
The UK Bribery Act 2010 made Company Directors legally responsible for bribery in their organisations, and personally liable for not preventing it.In recent years global organisations such as Avon, Glaxo China, BAE Systems and Rolls Royce have fallen foul of the Serious Fraud Office investigations and paid millions in fines on Bribery and Corruption charges. In 2016, for the first time a UK company Smith and Ouzman and it’s Directors were handed a £2.2m fine and 4 1/2 yrs (suspended) after being found guilty of bribing foreign agents, following a 4-year investigation by the SFO. The length of this investigation and the sentencing of a "typical UK SME" rather than a global corporation sends a strong message to UK companies of every size.Being smaller and less...>>
Zero-hours contracts – latest guide for employers What are zero-hours contracts? A zero-hours contract is one used for casual working, under which the employer does not guarantee to provide the worker with any work and pays the worker only for work actually carried out. The worker is expected to be available for work when or if called on by the employer.Zero hours contracts are not illegal. If they are freely entered into, a zero-hours contract is a legitimate form of contract between individual and employer. Zero-hours contracts can be used by employers to provide a flexible workforce to meet a temporary or changeable need for Staff. Examples include a need for workers to cover:- unexpected or last-minute events (e.g a restaurant needs...>>
A 60 second summary of the new flexible working laws, in pictures. Employers and HR Directors can be resourced with the essential knowledge you need to know when planning Flexible Working Policies and responding to Flexible Working requests. View the slideshare below New flexible working laws made easy - a guide for Employers, HR Directors from legalpartners>>
Why appoint a Non-Exec Director? Bringing a Non-Executive Director or Chairman into a company can be a very smart move for CEOs, CFOs and for the Board, particularly at times of significant change or upheaval in the business. The objectivity and wise experience of the right Non-Exec will be a great asset for businesses of all sizes, and I mean from start-ups upwards.A Non-Exec Director’s experience in the following areas can be invaluable: industry contacts and knowledge strategic vision built on his/her past success as a Board Director, for example – assessing new markets or a company acquisition or fund-raising. The recession that followed the financial crisis in 2008/ 2009 has given Directors a lot of invaluable knowledge and experience for dealing...>>
From 6 April 2014 onwards, a new system of Early Conciliation (EC) requires employees to take some compulsory steps before they can make a claim against an employer. It is mandatory in almost every case (there are a few very limited exceptions).The Early Conciliation system requires employees who believe they have an Employment Tribunal (ET) case to inform Acas before their case can proceed through an ET.The new system should not deter employers from attempting to resolve issues informally or through mediation. The Early Conciliation system requires employees who believe they have an Employment Tribunal (ET) case to inform Acas before their case can proceed through an ET. Early Conciliation, the new procedure in employment disputes. This is how it works. An employee will be...>>
Are you concerned about your liability as an employer when your team use social media and email at work? This guide highlights the risks of employer liability when your employees are using social media or sending e-mails and gives some practical suggestions of how to minimise those risks. The huge growth in popularity of social media in recent years has created challenges as well as opportunities for every business. Blogs and similar media present a unique opportunity to get a positive image of a business into the public domain as well as providing an efficient way of sharing information, knowledge and best practice with others. The other side of the coin is that legal liabilities can arise from the use of...>>
Hiring new employees: the legal issues you need to know This checklist highlights the key legal issues involved in hiring new employees, the legal issues you need to know and what you need to do. Hiring new employees: before advertising Make sure all staff involved in hiring new employees have had equal opportunities training (and they continue to receive it while working for your business).Draw-up the following documents: job description which sets out the title and main purpose of the job, the place of the job holder within your business and the main tasks or responsibilities of the post. a person specification which details the experience, know-how and qualifications, skills and abilities necessary for the job in question. The requirements can be split between...>>
If your business is already importing from China, or considering Chinese imports, you will want to ensure the process, and the relationship with your Chinese suppliers, goes smoothly right from the beginning.Stories of lost sales and key promotions unfulfilled due to a slip up at the Chinese factory are common and can make companies cautious of taking the first step.Here are some key tips and useful practices to adopt with your Chinese suppliers, to ensure that your goods arrive as expected, on time, and in the right quantity, consistently. We’ve included some front line advice on what to do if problems do arise. First things first, do your research. Check the validity of your potential supplier's chinese factory & company. Speak to...>>
Businesses that make redundancies have a duty to look for alternative employment for any potentially redundant employees. A dismissal is likely to be unfair if, at the time of the dismissal, the business did not consider whether any suitable alternative employment existed within its business. This business briefing sets out the key issues a business needs to consider. Extent and duration of the search A business is not obliged to create alternative employment for redundant employees where none already exists. However, the business should make a thorough search for alternative employment and document that search. This will enable the business to show the steps it has taken if it has to produce evidence in defence of an unfair dismissal claim....>>
This redundancy checklist summarises the key issues that a business should be aware of when dealing with a redundancy situation.When can a redundancy situation arise?Redundancy encompasses three different types of situation: Business closure. Workplace closure. Reduction of workforce. Collective consultation If a business is making 20 or more employees redundant over a period of 90 days or less, the business must: inform and consult appropriate employee representatives. notify the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS). An employment tribunal can award up to 90 days’ pay for each employee if the business has not consulted adequately. The business can also be fined for failing to notify BIS. The business should also ensure that it follows a fair procedure during the...>>
Use this TUPE checklist to help make the Transfer as efficient and liability free as possible. When does TUPE apply? TUPE applies to a “relevant transfer”. A relevant transfer can be where: A business or part of a business is sold. Work is outsourced from a client to a contractor. Outsourced services are transferred from the original contractor to another contractor or back to the client (ie in-sourced). A client brings the outsourced services back in-house. Further analysis and advice is always needed to confirm whether TUPE applies or not.Whether TUPE does or does not apply will have significant financial implications on any proposed transaction. Which rights are automatically transferred under TUPE? Employees transfer to the new employer on their...>>
Here are our top ten tips for avoiding employment tribunal claims. 1. Ensure that contracts of employments are properly drafted and kept up to date. It is a legal requirement that employers provide employees with a writtenstatement of terms no later than 2 months after their employment begins. Thereis certain information that must be contained in the written statement of termswhich employers need to ensure is contained within their contracts. 2. Tailor your staff handbook to your business. It should contain all the policies which set out best practice on how yourmanagers should deal with day to day personnel matters. Use it to communicateemployers’ and employees’ duties and obligations within the workplace to avoidmisunderstandings. 3. Communicate staff handbook to all...>>
